Doctor keeps medical license despite allegations of abuse

Judge rules 'acts of violence' were inflicted upon girlfriend; board inquiry found other questionable behavior with drugs and sex

Dec. 18, 2011

Dr. Alex Argotte leaves the back of his clinic that says it offers liposuction, urgent care and family medicine in Paintsville, Ky. “I’m not a big fan of being interviewed,” Argotte said. / Scott Utterback/The Courier-Journal

Written by

R.G. Dunlop | The Courier-Journal

PAINTSVILLE, KY. — When the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure was weighing possible discipline against Dr. Alex Argotte in May 2009, it had much to consider, according to public records.

There were the “acts of violence” that McCracken Family Court Judge Cynthia Sanderson ruled in 2009 that Argotte had inflicted upon his girlfriend and co-worker, Kathleen Henderson. They included punching her in the face and pushing her down a flight of stairs. And there was Argotte’s effort to hide Henderson in a Paducah motel to conceal her injuries.

Then there were the emails that the licensure board obtained in which Argotte called Henderson a “slut,” said he wanted to “choke the — out of you,” and urged Henderson to kill herself to prove her love for him.

There also was the prescription for Dilaudid that Argotte, then 38, wrote for Henderson while directing her to give him the narcotic painkiller in case he needed it during a vacation to Germany, according to the board’s investigation.

And there was the prolonged sexual relationship Argotte had with Henderson, then 21 — including frequent sex in his Paducah office and in Lourdes Hospital, she said — while she was Argotte’s patient .

By law, several of those offenses constituted sufficient grounds to suspend or to revoke Argotte’s medical license for up to five years.

But the licensure board did neither.

Instead, it barred Argotte from practicing medicine for just 90 days, subjected him supervision and placed him on probation for five years — which the board relaxed in less than six months and ended in less than two years. That allowed Argotte to resume his career without restrictions.

The licensure board would not explain its disciplinary action against Argotte, or its decision to end his probationary period early.

Now Argotte, who recently began working at a Paintsville clinic, is the subject of a new licensure board investigation related to his prescribing practices. Michael Rodman, the licensure board’s assistant executive director, confirmed the investigation but would not discuss it.

DISPUTED ISSUES

Judge, experts differ
with doctor, board

In a November 2009 ruling upholding a domestic-violence order issued against Argotte two months earlier, Judge Sanderson made clear that she didn’t believe much of what he had said during a hearing .

She called Argotte’s testimony concerning Henderson’s facial injuries “ preposterous” and his denial that they lived together “incredible.” The judge also found that after pushing Henderson down the basement stairs of his home, he “escorted her in the back door” of Lourdes Hospital, where he had privileges, in the middle of the night.

Argotte told the licensure board that he did not think he had done anything wrong, and he was “very optimistic” that his appeal would be “resolved in my favor.” In September 2008, however, a Kentucky Court of Appeals panel unanimously upheld Sanderson.

Moreover, three board orders in Argotte’s previous case appear to incompletely state key findings by a consultant it had retained to evaluate Argotte’s conduct.

According to the board’s orders, the consultant, Dr. William Mitchell, “did not find that (Argotte) prescribed medications inappropriately to (Henderson) or otherwise provided medical care that failed to meet acceptable standards of medical practice, other than providing medical care to an individual he had been dating.”

However, according to Mitchell’s seven-page report, he found not one, but three, violations .

In addition to concluding that Argotte violated that standard by engaging “in a physical, romantic and sexual relationship” with Henderson, Mitchell also found a third violation — Argotte’s “physical, mental and emotional abuse” of Henderson.

Lloyd Vest, the licensure board’s general counsel, said the board’s summary of Mitchell’s findings was prepared by a lawyer no longer with the board and who declined to discuss it.

Richard Stasney, a surgeon and medical school professor in Texas who served for six years on the state board that disciplines doctors there, said that he would have voted to permanently revoke Argotte’s medical license.

“When you do that sort of thing, I think you’ve abdicated your license and need to do something else with your life,” Stasney said.

MOVING PRACTICE

Paintsville office is arousing suspicions of law, others

After the licensure board terminated Argotte’s probation in November 2010, he moved his medical practice 370 miles across the state to Paintsville.

There, in late June, he opened New Life Urgent Care, which offers “liposuction, urgent care and family medicine,” according to a sign on the office-suite door.

Yet, in the few months since he began practicing in Paintsville, Argotte has attracted not only the licensure board’s attention but also a clientele that has aroused the suspicions of employees at nearby businesses and local law-enforcement officials.

Paintsville Police Chief William Holbrook and Johnson County Sheriff Dwayne Price both said their offices have received complaints about high volumes of traffic around Argotte’s office, about patients in cars from counties 50 to 100 miles away, and about seemingly impaired people spending hours in the parking lot.

“We’ve seen cars from Indiana, Tennessee and Virginia,” said Wanda Salyer, who works in a beauty shop and spa across the street from Argotte’s office. “He says he’s doing liposuction, but the people we see going in aren’t terribly overweight. I would consider a lot of them underweight.”

After initially consenting to talk with a reporter about his job and the clinic, Argotte sent a message through his receptionist that he didn’t have time for an interview. When a reporter attempted to talk with him outside his office , he refused.

“I’m not a big fan of being interviewed,” Argotte, now 44, said as he got into his car.

Asked what sort of clinic he was operating and why he had moved to Paintsville, he said: “I’m not sure why you have any interest in me or any other doctor in this area.”

And in response to a question about whether he is primarily dispensing narcotic pain medications, Argotte said, “I’m treating a variety of things.”

Argotte still has five malpractice lawsuits, as well as a foreclosure action involving equipment and an alleged debt of more than $125,000, pending. In all the cases, he has denied wrongdoing.